Let me preface the following remarks by assuring the reader that I have no sympathy for murderous revenge. What Seung-Hui Cho did at Virginia Tech was inexcusable. No amount of taunting, ostracism, or downright bullying behavior warrants murder. None of Cho's victims posed an immediate, deadly threat to him. That being said, I think it's time that some people learn that they do not live in a vacuum.
I'll never know the extent to which Cho was marginalized by his peers. I'll never know who sincerely offered to help, or who put up nothing more than a socially acceptable facade. I'll never know the extent of Cho's anxiety, frustration, grief, depression, or plain instability. But I do know how it feels to be socially awkward and isolated, to be ridiculed and harassed, to be mocked and tormented. And I know that each person who bullies and teases makes the choice to do so, whether or not any one of them understands or accepts the possible consequences.
Wake up. This is not a Saturday Night Live sketch. This is not Seinfeld or South Park. This is not Friends or Futurama. This is life, and no one will guarantee you a happy ending at the end of a half-hour episode. Real people have real passions and real feelings. You wake the tiger at your own risk, and perhaps someone else's.
It's all fun and games until someone gets bit.
Tigers: 32
Provocateurs: 0
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